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2000  Harmonising Databases for the Cross National Study of Internal Migration: Lessons From Australia and Britain

This paper describes the way in which harmonised databases of inter-regional migration in Australia and Britain were created, classified by five year ages and birth cohorts for four
five year periods between 1976 and 1996. The data processing involved estimation of migration data for temporally comparable spatial units, the aggregation of those units to a meaningful set of
city regions, the extraction of migration data from official data files supplied by the Australian Bureau of Statistics and the Office for National Statistics, the filling of gaps in these files
through use of various techniques including iterative proportional fitting, and the harmonisation of age time-plans through estimation of the numbers of transitions (Australia) or movements
(Britain) for common age-period-cohort spaces. The final stage in preparation of the databases was to specify the populations at risk for computation of migration intensities. The creation of such
databases requires integration of demographic concepts, social science estimation methods and careful bespoke computer programs: once the goal of harmonisation has been achieved standard database
and statistical software can be used in the parallel analysis of migration in Australia and Britain.

 Professor Martin Bell
  
Links:  Alternative Location
Keywords:  internal migration, Australia, Britain, comparative studies, databases
 
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